Carmela Chase
Program Coordinator
(510) 238-7992
cchase@oaklandnet.com
Our Mission
• The Summer Lunch Program strives to help children in
Oakland get the nutrition they need to learn, play,
and grow throughout the summer—making them
better prepared to start another school year. The
Summer Lunch Program encourages healthy eating
habits leading to normal weight ranges and a positive
self-image.
Our success!
• The City of Oakland has been a sponsor of the Summer
Food Service Program for the past 28 years
• Summer food sites increased from 60 locations in 2010 to
96 in 2012.
• The number of meals served has nearly doubled since
the early 2000’s, from 45,000 lunches to 91,000 lunches
and 82,000 afternoon snacks served, as Oakland families
experience high rates of unemployment and poverty.
Two Oakland Summer Food Sponsors
Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) serves breakfast and lunch to summer
schools and community programs held on OUSD property.
The City of Oakland’s Summer Food Service Program fills in the gaps by
partnering with local organizations. Some of the City’s many partners for the
Oakland Summer Lunch Program include:
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City of Oakland Recreation Centers
Many non-profit organizations serving children
Faith based organizations
New! City of Oakland Libraries
All summer food sites such as recreation centers, community based and faith
based organizations experienced an increase of meals served during the last
summer session. New partnerships with the libraries and cross promotion of
literacy programs accompanied by free meals increased community attendance.
Alameda Community Food Bank
Awesome Volunteers!!!!
•
For several years, the Alameda County
Community Food Bank has assisted the
City of Oakland’s Summer Food Service
Program with outreach and promotion
through their Emergency Helpline.
800-870-FOOD
In 2011, the Food Bank embarked on a
unique pilot project with the City of
Oakland to provide summer lunch in an
entirely new place: the Oakland Public
Libraries. What began as a two week trial
at 3 libraries, blossomed into a summerlong effort at 10 different library branches.
While the libraries could provide the
space and storage, they did not have the
staffing to distribute and monitor the
lunches. The Food Bank agreed to dip into
their extensive pool of volunteers and
take on the role of recruiting and training
the volunteers needed to run these sites.
In 2012, the Food Bank provided 99
volunteers to serve and monitor the
lunches at the different locations. By the
end of the summer, nearly 7,400 meals
were served through the collaboration.
How it works
To participate as a site,
all organization must:
• Provide an area where
lunches can be served to
children
• All site staff must attend
training
• Have the ability to store and
refrigerate lunches
• Trainings are provided from
late May through the end of
July
• A site coordinator(s) to serve
and count lunches during the
designated meal time
Best Practices with Libraries
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Two volunteers for every 20-30 children: The site with 70 children daily needed just three to four
volunteers daily as the parents who accompanied their children helped with cleaning.
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Boxed lunches make for easy storage and clean-up.
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Dedicate one person to the schedule and coordination of volunteers: Having an intern act as
volunteer coordinator saves staff valuable time.
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Train volunteers prior to their shift start: Volunteers arrived 30 minutes prior to their first shift to
receive training. Explaining the rules and regulations took up the bulk of training.
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Screen and select volunteers willing to do multiple shifts: Most volunteers did 3 or more shifts,
either doing several days in a row or the same day for multiple weeks.
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Utilize staff refrigerators: For most of the libraries, their staff refrigerators had adequate storage
space. It was only the high volume library that required an additional mini-fridge.
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Library staff accept and store the food when delivered: This was the one piece of work that the
libraries agreed to do because the food usually arrived 2-3 hours before lunch was served. They
agreed to accept the food, store it and record its temperature.
Get the word out!
Food Banks, Flyers at local School, Fun Kick off
event, 211, Twitter, Facebook, Door hangers,
Local news stations!